John Coleman, former ABC 7 Chicago weatherman and Weather Channel co-founder, dies at age 83

John Coleman, a former ABC 7 Chicago weatherman who co-founded the Weather Channel and was the original meteorologist on ABC's "Good Morning America" during his six-decade broadcasting career, has died. He was 83.

His wife, Linda Coleman, told The Associated Press her husband died Saturday night at home in Las Vegas. She did not give a cause.

John Coleman, a former ABC 7 Chicago weatherman who co-founded the Weather Channel and was the original meteorologist on ABC's "Good Morning America" has died.

The Texas native got his first TV job in Champaign while still a student at the University of Illinois. Coleman worked at WLS-TV from 1968 to 1979 and several local stations in the Midwest before joining "GMA" when it launched in 1975.

He served as CEO of the Weather Channel for about a year after helping launch it in 1981.

Coleman went on to join KUSI-TV in San Diego, where he spent 20 years as weatherman for its morning show before retiring in 2014.

In a July 30, 1981 photo, John Coleman (right), then meteorologist for "Good Morning America," and Frank Batten (left), chairman and chief executive of Landmark Communications.